“La bohème” by Giacomo Puccini libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four

Translation: William Fense Weaver © Capitol Records, Inc., 1952

ACT TWO

In the Latin Quarter
(A square with shops of all kinds. On one side is the
Café Momus. Mimì and Rodolfo move about with the
crowd. Colline is nearby at a rag-woman's stand.
Schaunard is buying a pipe and a trumpet. Marcello is
pushed here and there by the throng. It is evening.
Christmas Eve.)

HAWKERS
Oranges, dates!
Hot roasted chestnuts!
Crosses, knick-knacks!
Cookies and candies!
Flowers for the ladies!
Pies for sale!
With whipped cream!
Finches and larks!
Dates! Fresh fish!
Coconut milk! Skirts!
Carrots!

THE CROWD
What a throng! Such noise!
Hold tight! Let's run!
Lisa! Emma!
Make way there!
Emma, I'm calling you!
Once more around...
We'll take Rue Mazarine.
I can't breathe here...
See? The café's right here.
What wonderful jewels!
Your eyes are more wonderful!
This crowd tonight
sets a dangerous example!
Things were better in my day!

Long live freedom!
AT THE CAFÉ
Let's go. Here, waiter!
Hurry. On the run.
Come here. My turn.
Beer! A glass!
Vanilla. Liqueur!
Well? Hurry.
Drinks! Coffee...
.Quickly. Hey, there...

SCHAUNARD
(blowing on the trumpet, producing odd sounds)
This D is out of tune.
How much for the horn and the pipe?

COLLINE
fat the rag-woman's, who is sewing up an enormous
overcoat he has just bought)
It's a little worn...

RODOLFO
Let's go.

MIMÌ
Are we going to buy the bonnet?

COLLINE
...But it's cheap and dignified.

RODOLFO
Hold tight to my arm.

MIMÌ
I'll hold you tight.

MIMÌ and RODOLFO
Let's go!
(They go into the milliner's.)

MARCELLO
I, too, feel like shouting:
which of you happy girls wants love?

HAWKERS
Dates! Trout! Plums from Tours!

MARCELLO
Let us make a bargain together -
for a penny I'll sell my virgin heart.

SCHAUNARD
Pushing and shoving and running,
the crowd hastens to its joys,
feeling insane desires -
unappeased.

HAWKERS
Trinkets! Brooches! etc.

COLLINE
(showing a book)
A rare find, truly unique:
a Runic grammar.

SCHAUNARD
(What an honest fellow!)

MARCELLO
Let's eat!

SCHAUNARD and COLLINE
And Rodolfo?

MARCELLO
He went into the milliner's.
(Rodolfo and Mimì come out of the shop.)

RODOLFO
Come, my friends are waiting.

MIMÌ
Is my pink bonnet becoming?

HAWKERS
Whipped cream! Coconut milk!
Pies! Whipped cream!

CAFÉ CUSTOMERS
Waiter! A glass!
Quick. Hey there...
Liqueur.

RODOLFO
You're dark,
that colour suits you.

MIMÌ
(looking back at the shop)
That lovely coral necklace.

RODOLFO
I've a millionaire uncle.
If God acts wisely,
I'll buy you a necklace
much more beautiful...

URCHINS, MIDINETTES, STUDENTS
Ah! ah! ah! etc.

TOWNSPEOPLE
Let's follow these people!
Girls, watch out!
Such noise! What a throng!
We'll take the Rue Mazarine!
I'm stifling, let's go!
See, the cafe's right here!
Let's go there, to Momus!
Ah!...

HAWKERS
Pies for sale! Whipped cream!
Flowers for the ladies!

Knick-knacks, dates, hot roasted chestnuts!
Finches, larks!
Cream cakes!

RODOLFO
Whom are you looking at?

COLLINE
I hate the vulgar herd as Horace did.

MIMÌ
Are you jealous?

RODOLFO
The man who's happy must be
suspicious too.

SCHAUNARD
And when I'm stuffing myself
I want plenty of room about me.

MIMÌ
Are you happy then?

MARCELLO
(to the waiter)
We want a prize dinner.

RODOLFO
Oh yes. Very.

MARCELLO
Quickly.

SCHAUNARD
And bring plenty.

RODOLFO
And you?

MIMÌ
Very.
(Marcello, Schaunard and Colline sit at a table in front
of the café.)

STUDENTS
There, to Momus!

MIDINETTES
Let's go! Let's go!

MARCELLO, COLLINE, SCHAUNARD
Quickly!

VOICE OF PARPIGNOL
(in the distance)
Here are the toys of Parpignol!

RODOLFO
Two places.

COLLINE
At last!

RODOLFO
Here we are! This is Mimì, happy flower-girl.
Her presence alone
makes our company complete.
For...for I am a poet;
and she is poetry itself.

As songs flow from my brain,
the flowers bloom in her hands,
and in joyful spirits
love blossoms also.

MARCELLO
What rare imagery!

COLLINE
Digna est intrari.

SCHAUNARD
Ingrediat si necessit.

COLLINE
I grant only one accessit.

VOICE OF PARPIGNOL
(closer)
Here are the toys of Parpignol!

COLLINE
Salami...
(Parpignol arrives in the square, pushing a barrow
covered with frills and flowers.)

CHILDREN
Parpignol! Parpignol! Parpignol!
Here is Parpignol!
With his cart all decked with flowers!
Here is Parpignol!
I want the horn, the toy horse!
The drum! The tambourine!
I want the cannon; I want the whip,
I want the troop of soldiers.

SCHAUNARD
Roast venison.

MARCELLO
A turkey.

SCHAUNARD
Rhine wine!

COLLINE
Table wine!

SCHAUNARD
Shelled lobster!

MOTHERS
What a bunch of naughty rascals!
What are you doing here now?
Go home to bed, you noisy things.
Slaps will be the least you'll get...
go home to bed,
you bunch of rascals, to bed!

A BOY
I want the horn, the toy horse...

RODOLFO
What will you have, Mimì?

MIMÌ
Some custard.

SCHAUNARD
The best.
A lady's with us.

CHILDREN
Bravo Parpignol!
The drums! The tambourine!
A troop of soldiers!
(They run off, following Parpignol.)

MARCELLO
Tell me, Mimì, what rare gift
Rodolfo has given you?

MIMÌ
An embroidered pink bonnet, all
with lace. It goes well
with my dark hair.
I've longed for such a bonnet
for months...and he read
what was hidden in my heart...
Anyone who can read the heart's secret
knows love...he's such a reader.

SCHAUNARD
He's a professor in the subject.

COLLINE
With diplomas, and his verses
are not a beginner's...

SCHAUNARD
That's why what he says
seems to be true!

MARCELLO
Oh, sweet age of false utopias!
You hope and believe, and all
seems beautiful.

RODOLFO
The sublimest poem, my friend,
is the one which teaches us to love!

MIMÌ
Love is sweet, sweeter than honey.

MARCELLO
That depends: it's honey or gall!

MIMÌ
Heavens! I've offended him!

RODOLFO
He's mourning, Mimì!

SCHAUNARD and COLLINE
Cheer up! A toast!

MARCELLO
Something to drink!

ALL
Away with brooding,
raise your glass.
We'll drink.

MARCELLO
(seeing Musetta enter, laughing)
I'll drink some poison!

SCHAUNARD, COLLINE and RODOLFO
Oh! Musetta!

MARCELLO
Her!

THE SHOPWOMEN
What! Her! Yes! Well! Her!
Musetta!
She's done well for herself! What a dress!
(Musetta stops, accompanied by the old and pompous
Alcindoro. She sits at another table in front of the
café.)

ALCINDORO
Running like a porter
back and forth...
No, it's not proper.

MUSETTA
(calling Alcindoro as if he were a dog)
Here, Lulu!

ALCINDORO
I can't take any more.

MUSETTA
Come, Lulu.

SCHAUNARD
That ugly old fool's all in a lather!

ALCINDORO
What? Outside? Here?

MUSETTA
Sit, Lulu.

ALCINDORO
Please, save these
little nicknames of yours
for when we're alone.

MUSETTA
Don't act like Bluebeard!

COLLINE
He's evil behind that front!

MARCELLO
With the chaste Susanna.

MIMÌ
But she's beautifully dressed.

RODOLFO
Angels go naked.

MIMÌ
You know her? Who is she?

MARCELLO
Ask me that question.
Her first name's Musetta.
Her last name's Temptation.
Her occupation is being
a leaf in the wind...
Always turning, changing
her lovers and her loves...
Like the screech-owl
she's a bird of prey.
Her favourite food

is the heart...she devours them!
And so I have no heart.

MUSETTA
(Marcello's has seen me...
But the coward won't look at me.
And that Schaunard's laughing!
They all make me livid!
If I could just hit them!
Scratch their eyes out!
But I've got this old
pelican on my hands.
Just wait!)
Waiter!

MARCELLO
(hiding his emotion)
Pass me the stew.

MUSETTA
Hey! Waiter! This plate
smells dirty to me!
(throwing the plate on the ground)

ALCINDORO
No, Musetta! Quiet, now!

MUSETTA
(He won't look.)

ALCINDORO
Quiet, now. Manners! Please!

MUSETTA
(He won't look.)

ALCINDORO
To whom are you speaking?

COLLINE
This chicken is a poem!

MUSETTA
(Now I'll hit him, I'll hit him!)

ALCINDORO
Who are you talking to?

MUSETTA
To the waiter. Don't be a bore!

SCHAUNARD
The wine is excellent.

MUSETTA
I want my own way!

ALCINDORO
Lower your voice!

MUSETTA
I'll do as I please!

ALCINDORO
Lower your voice!

MUSETTA
Don't be a bore!

MIDINETTES and STUDENTS
Look, look who it is,
Musetta herself!
With that stuttering old man,
it's Musetta herself!
Ha ha ha ha ha!

MUSETTA
(But could he be jealous of this mummy?)

ALCINDORO
Decorum...my rank...my reputation!

MUSETTA
(Let's see if I still
have enough power over him
to make him give in.)

SCHAUNARD
The play is stupendous!

MUSETTA
(looking at Marcello)
You aren't looking at me.

ALCINDORO
Can't you see I'm ordering?

SCHAUNARD
The play is stupendous!

COLLINE
Stupendous!

RODOLFO
(to Mimì)
Let me tell you now:
I'd never be forgiving.

SCHAUNARD
She speaks to one for the other to hear.

MIMÌ
(to Rodolfo)
I love you so, and I'm
all yours...
Why speak of forgiveness?

COLLINE
(to Schaunard)
And the other, cruel, in vain
pretends he is deaf,
but enjoys it all.

MUSETTA
But your heart is beating like a hammer.

ALCINDORO
Lower your voice.

MUSETTA
But your heart is beating like a hammer.

ALCINDORO
Lower your voice.

MUSETTA
As I walk alone
through the streets,
the people stop to look
and inspect my beauty,

examining me
from head to toe.

MARCELLO
Tie me to the chair!

ALCINDORO
What will people say?

MUSETTA
And then I savour the subtle
longing in their eyes
when, from my visible charms,
they guess at the beauty concealed.
This onrush of desire
surrounds me.
It delights me, it delights me.

ALCINDORO
(This scurrilous song
infuriates me!)

MUSETTA
And you who know, who remember and suffer,
how can you escape?
I know: you won't admit
that you're in torment,
but it's killing you.

MIMÌ
I can tell that the poor girl
is head over heels in love with Marcello.

ALCINDORO
What will people say?

RODOLFO
Marcello loved her once...

SCHAUNARD
Ah! Marcello will give in!

RODOLFO
...The flirt ran off...

COLLINE
Who knows what'll happen!

RODOLFO
...to find
a better life.

SCHAUNARD
The snare is equally sweet
to hunter and hunted.

COLLINE
Gods above! I'd never land myself
in such a situation!

MUSETTA
(Ah, Marcello's going mad!
Marcello is vanquished!)

ALCINDORO
Lower your voice! Be quiet!

MIMÌ
I feel so sorry for the poor girl.

COLLINE
She's lovely - I'm not blind...

MIMÌ
(nestling close to Rodolfo)
I love you!

SCHAUNARD
(The braggart is about to yield!
The play is stupendous!
Marcello will give in!)
(to Colline)
If such a pretty creature
stopped and talked to you,
you'd gladly send to the devil
all your bearish philosophy.

RODOLFO
Mimì!
Love is weak
when it leaves wrongs unavenged.
Love, once dead, cannot be revived, etc.

MIMÌ
I feel so sorry for the poor girl.
Love is sad when it's unforgiving.
I feel so sorry, etc.

COLLINE
...but I'm much happier
with my pipe and a Greek text.
She's beautiful, I'm not blind, etc.

ALCINDORO
Mind your manners! Be quiet!

MUSETTA
I know: you won't admit your torment.
Ah! but you feel like dying!
(to Alcindoro)
I'll do as I please,
I'll do as I like,
don't be a bore, a bore, a bore!
(Now to get rid of the old man.)
(pretending a pain)
Ouch!

ALCINDORO
What is it?

MUSETTA
The pain! The pain!

ALCINDORO
Where?

MUSETTA
My foot!

MARCELLO
(My youth, you're still alive,
your memory's not dead...
If you came to my door,
my heart would open it!)

MUSETTA
Loosen it! Untie it! Break it! Tear it!
Please!
There's a shoemaker nearby.
Run quickly! I want another pair!

Ah, how it pinches, this damn tight shoe!
I'll take it off...here it is.
Run, go on, run! Hurry, hurry!

MIMÌ
(I can see she's madly in love with Marcello.)

RODOLFO
(I can see: the play's stupendous!)

ALCINDORO
How unwise!
What will people say?
My reputation!
Do you want to ruin it?
Wait! Musetta! I'm going!
(He hurries off.)

COLLINE and SCHAUNARD
(The play is stupendous!)

MUSETTA
Marcello!

MARCELLO
Siren!
(They embrace passionately.)

SCHAUNARD
Here's the finale!
(The waiter brings the bill.)

ALL
The bill!

SCHAUNARD
So soon?

COLLINE
Who asked for it?

SCHAUNARD
Let's see.

COLLINE and RODOLFO
It's high!
(Drums are heard approaching.)

RODOLFO, SCHAUNARD and COLLINE
Out with the money!

SCHAUNARD
Colline, Rodolfo and you, Marcello?

CHILDREN
The Tattoo!

MARCELLO
I'm broke!

SCHAUNARD
What?

MIDINETTES, STUDENTS
The Tattoo!

RODOLFO
I've only got thirty sous.

TOWNSPEOPLE
The Tattoo!

MARCELLO, SCHAUNARD and COLLINE
What? No more money?

SCHAUNARD
Where's my wealth?

URCHINS
Are they coming this way?

MUSETTA
(to the waiter)
Give me my bill.

MIDINETTES, STUDENTS
No! That way!

URCHINS
They're coming that way!

MIDINETTES, STUDENTS
They're coming this way!

URCHINS
No, that way!

MUSETTA
Good!

TOWNSPEOPLE, HAWKERS
Make way! Make way!

CHILDREN
I want to see! I want to hear!

MUSETTA
Quick, add these two bills together...
The gentleman who was with me will pay.

MOTHERS
Lisetta, please be quiet.
Tonio, stop that at once!

GIRLS
Mamma, I want to see.
Papa, I want to hear.

RODOLFO, MARCELLO, SCHAUNARD, COLLINE
The gentleman will pay!

CHILDREN
I want to see the Tattoo!

MOTHERS
Please be quiet! Stop that at once!

MIDINETTES
They're coming this way!

TOWNSPEOPLE
They're coming that way!

TOWNSPEOPLE, STUDENTS, HAWKERS
Yes, this way!

URCHINS
When it comes by,
we'll march with it!

COLLINE, SCHAUNARD, MARCELLO
The gentleman will pay!

MUSETTA
And here, where he was sitting,
he'll find my farewell!
(putting the bill on the chair)

TOWNSPEOPLE
That drum-roll expresses
our country's glory.

RODOLFO, COLLINE, SCHAUNARD, MARCELLO
And here, where he was sitting,
he'll find her farewell!

THE CROWD
Make way, make way, here they come!

URCHINS
Hey! Look out, here they are!

MARCELLO
Now the Guard is coming!

THE CROWD
All in line!

COLLINE, MARCELLO
Don't let the old fool see us
make off with his prize.

RODOLFO
The Guard is coming!

MARCELLO, SCHAUNARD, COLLINE
That crowded throng
will be our hiding-place.

THE CROWD
Here's the drum-major! Prouder
than an ancient warrior! The drum-major!

MIMÌ, MUSETTA, RODOLFO, MARCELLO, SCHAUNARD, COLLINE
Hurry! Let's run off!

THE CROWD
The Sappers! The Sappers, hooray!
Here's the drum-major!
Like a general!
The Tattoo is here!
Here he is, the handsome drum-major!
The golden baton, all a-glitter!
See, he looks at us as he goes past!

RODOLFO, MARCELLO, SCHAUNARD, COLLINE
Bravo Musetta! Artful minx!
Glory and honour, the glory and honour
of the Latin Quarter!

THE CROWD
All a-glitter!
The handsomest man in France,
the drum-major!
Here he is! See, he looks at us as he goes past!
(Since Musetta cannot walk with only one shoe,
Marcello and Colline carry her on their shoulders. They
all follow the guards and disappear. Alcindoro comes
back with a new pair of shoes, and the waiter hands
him the bill. When he sees the amount and sees
nobody around, Alcindoro falls, bewildered, onto a chair.)

libretto by William Fense Weaver

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four